The ConDem government sought to claim its policy of cuts was progressive when it was announced.
First they lied to claim that, by including Labour’s genuinely progressive measures in their calculations.
Then they just blustered about “progressive austerity” — one of Nick Clegg’s most absurd contributions to debate, ever.
And now the Institute for Fiscal Studies — whatever their manifold weaknesses and right wing predilections — says that the ConDem package is unambiguously regressive.
That’s not hard to agree with, because it is glaringly obviously true.
The reality is that the neoliberal right wing is using a crisis it created to reinforce its stranglehold on both wealth and power in the UK. This is not chance. This is deliberate. And this is abuse of most people who live in this country.
No wonder those people are frightened about the future. They should be. They’re not going to suffer through misfortune or accident. They’re going to suffer because some have chosen that they should. That’s a real cause for fear.
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I found the sight of Nick Clegg on the news attacking the IFS analysis as only being “partial” quite distasteful. As someone who voted Lib Dem when they used to have a progressive taxation policy and good ideas on banking reform, I can see this as the beginning of the end of the Lib Dems as any kind of political force. Come the next election, those who have benefited from the Tory policies will vote Conservative and those unhappy with the coalition will vote Labour. So long, Nick and thanks for nothing.